Process of making fine line printing plates



1933. J. KORNMANN PROCESS OF MAKING FINE LINE PRINTING PLATES Filed May 14, 1930 az/ INVENTOR. fizz/Mi;

A TTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 1, 1933 PROCESS OF MAKING FINE PLATES .1-

LINE PRINTING Joseph Kornmann, 'Cincinn'ati', Ohio Application May 14,1930. Serial No. 452,401

3 Claims.

My invention relates toa novel process of printing particularly adaptable for use in the printing of sheet music.

It is old in the art to print sheet music by initially punching a Zinc plate with dies, filling in the punched out or recessed parts by hand with ink,.employing dry transfer paper to pick up the impression from the pate, then transferring the impression from the transfer paper to .10 lithographic stones from which sheets of music are printed from a lithographic stone press. It is the object of my invention to provide a process permitting the expense of the printing and of the preparations of plates for the printing to be very materially reduced both because of a great decrease in the labor necessary and in the number of operations involved. It is further my object to provide a process in which the uniformity and neat appearance of the printed sheets is much improved.

A further object of my invention is to provide a printing process whichavoids the necessity of hand inking and in which the printing of p the sheets is accomplished by the transferring of the printed matter from a rubber blanket to a sheet of paper on which the desired printing is to be placed.

The above objects and other objects of which reference will be made in the ensuing disclosure I accomplish by that certain combination and arrangement of parts and by carrying out my process in accordance with the hereinafter noted steps.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a punched plate which I firstprovide in carrying out my process.

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the punched plate taken along the lines 2-2 in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view of the punched plate shown in Figure 1 after ink has been applied to it.

Figure 4 is a sectional view showing the method of applying a transparent sheet to the punched plate to receive the negative impression thereof.

Figure 5 is a sectional view of a transparent sheet after the dark background has been further darkened by an application of lamp black and graphite.

Figure 6 is a sectional view of a photolithographic plate which may be employed for printing in accordance with my process.

I have illustrated my process as applicable to the printing of music as itis particularly adapted for this type of printing and because the saving in the cost of printing this type of work is more pronounced in the particular art of printing sheet music. 7

In Figure 1 I have shown a plate 1 in which the bars for the musical notes are indicated at 2.

These bars are made by a cutting tool which can be rapidly run over the surface of the plate and which thereby cuts grooves in the plate representing the bars. The musical bars are in accordance, with standard practice interspaced with divisional lines indicated at 3. I have further shown notes 4 which are punched with dies which are made so as to show the reverse of the note as it is to appear in the final copy.

The key signature is indicated at 4 and at 5 we have shown the words for the music punched with letter dies to occupy the proper space relative to the musical notes.

After the plate is entirely punched out, an ink coating 6 is applied to it with a roller carefully so as not to fillin any of the punched out portions such asare punched in the plate to indicate the musical notes and the words of the music. After ink is applied to the surface of the plate 1, a transparent sheet 7, such as cellulose hydrate, will be applied to the plate to take up or transfer the ink from-the plate to the transparent sheet. 1

After the transparent sheet is removed from the plate the darkened background formed by the ink which the sheet has picked up from the plate is further darkened by an application of a layer of graphite and lamp black 8.

I have thus provided in the transparent sheet a negative which by application to aphotolithographic plate 9, with the undarkened surface of the sheet toward the printing plate, will make of the printing plate after it is developed, a zinc plate such as may be employed in regular lithographic printing in which the impression is transferred to a rubber blanket from which it may be printed on the regular sheet which is to form the fimshed sheet of music.

It will be noted that in carrying out my process I provide a plate which avoids the necessity of the expensive manufacture of a lithographic stone such as that which is ordinarily employed for printing music.

In addition to greatly cheapening the process of printing I greatly shorten the time necessary in, for example, the manufacture of reprints.

It will further be found that the lines forming the musical bars and. the notes are outlined much more cleanly and distinctly than in this type of printing which has been done in the past.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The method of making a fine line printing plate which consists in first mechanically sinking a design in a master plate, applying a coating .of ink to the master plate without filling in the sunken design, transferring the coating of ink to a transparent sheet, and utilizing said sheet as a photographic negative to produce the printing plate.

2. The method of making a fine line printing plate which consists in first mechanically sinking a design in a master plate; applying a coating of ink to the master plate without filling in the sunken design, transferring the coating to a trans .relief upon the printing plate by the use of said negative.

JOSEPH KORNMANN. 

